And Now, an Esquire Casting Dept. President's Day Special

Daniel Day-Lewis will play this weekend's birthday boy (observed), but what about, you know, two Grover Cleveland's?

With all due respect to Stan Musial, the most powerful honor we Americans can bestow on a man these days might not be the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This time of year, it might not even be an Oscar. The optioning of someone's life rights, though? Celluloid immortality? Well, it might not mean as much to the President of the United States, but still, it's a long weekend — a political one, in awards season. So to honor the quixotic, 222-year-old experiment that is the American Presidency, we have assembled one of the great dream casts of all time to portray each of our forty-four commanders in chief. Some terms may have been more eventful than others (we're looking at you, William Henry Harrison), but the resulting films — fine, miniseries — would have everything a good film should have: heroes, villains, scandal, murder, swashbuckling, romance, and, yes, political intrigue. You listening, HBO?